Can Hammer Mobile Phone Continue Life by Patent?

2018 is an eventful year for hammer technology. In May 2018, Hammer Technology launched TNT, a so-called "revolutionary product" in Luo Yonghao, at the press conference. At that time, it did attract a lot of attention and discussion, with mixed praise and criticism. However, the indefinite ticket skipping in the later period attracted all kinds of complaints. In August 2018, the "bullet message", which the outside world claimed to be able to change WeChat's dominance, was born. It solved many pain points of WeChat and even occupied the top Apple Store download list for several weeks, however, the good times did not last long, and when everyone's freshness passed, it was only a flash in the pan. By the end of 2018, Hammer Technology had been declared bankrupt many times, Hammer Digital had been applied for property preservation many times, and its founder Luo Yonghao's shares had also been frozen by the court.

Hammer Technology raised nearly 1.7 billion RMB from 2012 to 2018. The last one was the 1 billion led by Chengdu government in 2017. However, Hammer Technology has not made any new financing since then. The mobile phone industry is already an asset-heavy industry, and hammer technology is likely to run out of ammunition more than a year later. In 2018, Luo Yonghao also contacted Baidu, Huawei, Ali and other large companies many times to seek solutions to the company's difficulties. There was even news that 360 intended to bid 0.8 billion yuan for the hammer, but it was later proved to be false news. And now there are media sources that today's headlines are interested in acquiring some patents for hammer technology. This time, can Hammer Technology rely on patents to renew its life? In other words, can Hammer Technology sell its patents at a high price to today's headlines?

Looking at the patents of hammer technology, hammer technology has applied for 146 patents, including 93 invention patents, 22 utility models and 31 designs. Among these patents, 32 invention patents have been authorized, utility models and design patents have been authorized. Judging from the application trend (as shown in Figure 1), the innovation capability of Hammer Technology seems to have been declining. The peak of its application was in 2015, excluding some inventions that have not yet been disclosed in 2017. The number of applications has dropped sharply in 2016, and its innovation fatigue has begun to show.

Among the authorized patents, the application topics of Hammer Technology mainly focus on human-computer interaction, mobile phone shooting, image processing, mobile phone structure and appearance design, etc. Check the citation of its patents. In the fields of GPS positioning and phrase input, its invention patents have been cited by TCL Mobile, Nubian and other companies. It can be seen that Hammer Technology does have the ability to be recognized by the industry in these fields. This is also consistent with the operating system that Hammer Technology has always been proud of, which shows its strong strength in the software field.

The hammer of these patents, can attract today's headlines may be in the phrase input, human-computer interaction and other fields. Today's headlines announced that there is a plan to acquire the right to use some patents of Hammer Technology to explore related hardware in the field of education. In fact, today's headlines have made frequent moves in the field of education in 2018. At the beginning of 2018, today's headlines launched a knowledge payment platform "Learn Well"; In May 2018, gogokid, a children's online English learning brand, was launched, mainly for children under 12 years old. Therefore, today's headlines will make efforts in the field of education, and the acquisition of hammer technology related patents can shorten its research and development time and cycle in human-computer interaction and phrase input, which is also a wise choice.

For Hammer Technology, the licensing of patent rights is also beneficial to the company's development. First of all, this money can really alleviate the current embarrassing situation of tight funds and solve the urgent need. Secondly, the development field of today's headlines does not coincide with the hardware field that Hammer Technology has been committed to, and the two will not form a competitive relationship. Finally, if this license is really reached, it also affirms to the outside world the R & D strength of Hammer Technology in the field of human-computer interaction, so that more investors can see the strength of Hammer Technology, which also has a certain effect on the next round of financing of Hammer. As for whether Hammer Technology can survive on this money, it depends on whether the actual value of Hammer Technology's patents can be recognized by today's headlines.